Psionics

As you progress in Psionic levels, you gain Ranks to distribute amongst the various disciplines. Your Rank in a discipline determines what abilities you gain and how well you can execute those abilities. Whenever a power mentions Ranks, it refers to your Ranks in that power's discipline. Any level-based information (for purposes of determining how to interact with a psionic power) is determined by the psionist's Ranks in a given discipline.

Psionic powers are activated very much like Skills and Weapon Attacks: you roll a d20, add your Ranks, add modifiers, and try to be over a Difficulty Class. For physical attacks, the DC is based on the target's AC. For other situations, the DC is based either on opposed rolls or on DCs determined by task you want to do with the specific power. Sometimes activation of the power does not require a roll, but its specific applications do. If no roll is mentioned for a psionic power, then the psionist may activate it freely. You may not normally take a 10 or 20 with a psionic power.

Psionics are sometimes modified by the psionist's familarity with their subject. This mostly applies to psionics with unlimited ranges. Other times a power roll is modified for the commonality of a subject. In either case, consult the following table for a modifier to the DC for the power roll:

-15 - Personally connected; Everyday subjects
-10 - Very familiar; Common subjects
-5 - Studied carefully; Uncommon subjects
-0 - Experienced casually or easy to visualize; Rare subjects
+5 - Good description; Very Rare subjects
+10 - Brief description; Exotic subjects
+15 - Lousy description; Unique subjects

Unless otherwise mentioned, the area-of-effect for psionics is either a single target or personal. The range for psionics is much like those of projectile weapons: apply a -1 to the roll for each range increment the target is from the user. The maximum distance for any psionic power is 10 times its range. Unless otherwise noted, a psionist is not limited to the range of a power when it is maintained, so they may keep it going even if they are outside the standard range.

Saving throws use the half the psionist's Rank (rounded down) plus their ability modifier.

Using a psionic power invokes an attack of opportunity unless the target of the psionic power is who would be making the attack of opportunity. For example, a character using telekinesis to attack a goblin 50 feet away would be subject to an attack of opportunity by the ogre next to him, but if they used the telekinesis to attack the ogre they do not suffer the attack of opportunity. Basically, if the psionist is not paying attention to threats next to them, they pay the consequences.

Psionics are not spells nor magic, and do not have material components, but do use some limited somatics and other components to function. For each missing component, place a -4 penalty on the psionic power roll. Components help the psionist focus their power, and hence help the psionics operate better if they are included, but components are not needed for the powers to work.

Psionists can be distracted when wielding their powers, causing their activation to fail, just as a spellcaster's spells can. Treat psionic powers as spells for these purposes, using half the Rank requirement for a power in place of spell level, but add +5 to the roll: psionics are harder to disrupt than spells are.

Drain:
All uses of psionics is taxing to the user. When a power is activated, it causes Drain to the initiator.

Some powers require constant psionic power to stay active. These powers are referred to as Maintained, and inflict Strain in addition to the Drain. Strain functions the same as Drain, except that is goes away when the power is no longer maintained, and each point of Strain places a negative modifier on all psionic effects. The amount of Strain is twice the Drain, or 1, whichever is greater. Effects which change the Drain of a power are figured in before the Strain for a power is determined. Characters take 1 point of Drain for every 3 points of total Strain (rounded down) once every 10 minutes. Powers cannot normally be maintained while sleeping, nor can a psionist normally have more than one activation of a power maintained at the same time.

If a psionic power has no listing for Drain, then it is a granted power, and is always active, not causing any Drain nor Strain.

All characters have a psionic limit equal to their Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom bonuses, plus any special class modifiers. This limit is referred to as Psionic Threshold. If a character's total Drain and Strain is greater than their Psionic Threshold, they pass out immediately. They may be awaken with an Aid an Ally action, but take 1 point of subdual damage for each point of Drain and/or Strain they have over their Psionic Threshold.

Meditation:
To maintain their psionic abilities, a psionist must meditate for a minimum of one hour each day. If they do not, they suffer a cumilative Strain equal to their class level every 24 hours until they do. Each missed day requires one hour to be recovered. Meditation may be broken up, but each session must be no shorter than 15 minutes to be effective. Every 15 minutes of meditation heals one quarter of the character's Psionic Threshold in Drain, as the psionist refocuses their mind and relieves the strain they placed on themselves.